Residents near plant advised to avoid tap water and to cover faces with wet towels. Evacuations are underway for a 20 kilometer radius near Fukushima.
Related: death toll in quake/tsunami aftermath reportedly at 1,600.
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According to Stratfor there is a nuclear meltdown underway, with the concrete casing designed to contain such a meltdown said to be on fire as a result of being damaged by the floods. Fuck!
An entire town of 70,000 people was wiped off the map. There is no sign of life in the town now. The death toll is going to end up being much higher than the current reports.
As for the nuclear power plant. It is just a matter of hours before the meltdown occurs, if it hasn’t occurred already. To make matters worse, there is no containment structure anymore, after that explosion. This will mean that permanent relocation will be required for the population surrounding the disaster area, a la Chernobyl.
Go Go Godzilla!!!
In all seriousness, what does a meltdown mean for the West Coast of the US?
nothing.
If hydrogen detonated inside the reactor vessel or primary containment – it likely came from high fuel temps. At over 2200F zircalloy cladding will evolve cladding and can reach explosive values. This is not a “nuclear” explosoin as in a bomb situation. Real question is whether or not containment integrity is compromised by either the quake or the explosion.
Assuming reports are correct, there has been no damage to the core. The “explosion” that you see on the video was caused by a buildup of steam within the structure. Notice how there were no flames at all.
The core is still in-tact as far as I can tell, and they are attempting to cool it down with sea water. Amazingly, I think they have the situation under control.
The reported radiation levels are not extremely high, and would not support a conclusion of a breach to the core.
Of course, all the reports could be bogus. Time will tell.
Doji — thanks for the tech commentary, it is appreciated. I have spoken with colleagues in Kagoshima; Niigata; and Tokyo — neither they nor I can reach anyone by any means in NE Honshu (Fukushima/Miyagi). I am watching NHK’s Japanese feed now. They are showing pics of the roof of one of the reactor buildings apparently blown off (I speak/understand enough Japanese to be a menace to myself and others in a bar). NHK commentator seems to be making a case that the explosion may have been hydrogen based. Also commented that if they are in fact using sea water, it is very serious as this would result in a write-off of the reactor due to corrosion damage. At least that is the drift I got.
no problem. in the above comment i should correct my stmt to state that zircaloy cladding will evolve Hydrogen…and this is what likely detonated. If they’ve lost containment i am very concerned about structural damage to the Rx vessel or piping. Reports are really sketchy and too many assumptions being made in the media by so called experts.
http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Japan-to-fill-leaking-nuke-reactor-with-sea-water-2011-03-12T123704Z
“”The nuclear reactor is surrounded by a steel reactor container, which is then surrounded by a concrete building,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.”
I love the lies politicians will use to “calm” the people. The problem here is that there is video evidence that shows the concrete building is no longer standing.
i agree….i saw the explosion on tv like everyone…was hoping to see a lot of black smoke, indicating it was a transformer fire or something like that. That’s not what i saw. If they lost containment structure…just fuck. Good news (?) is that they aren’t reporting massive rad levels outside which would indicate the reactor vessel is compromised. Though who knows. Clearly they have done fuel damage IMO. Hearing 620 milirem/hr levels – not sure where – that’s not good either.
They have bipassed the pumping mechanism and are most likely using firetrucks to pump the water through.
edit to above: zirc cladding will evolve H2 at over 2200F. If they are filling the reactor w/ seawater and boric acid, that’s very bad. Tells me they lost backup water sources or ability to pump them to the reactor. How they would pump seawater and boric acid solutions into the reactor is not clear if the problem is no power. Maybe its the language barrier or connectivity to japanese sources…but the TEPCO statements aren’t making a lot of sense to me.
The market is going to open down over 200 on Monday. We are going to see a huge downdraft.
and silver will be up…
One man’s bad fortune is another man’s treasure.
News media is way behind what is actually going on IMO. TEPCO statements are looking more ridiculous IMO. IF the explosion was due to hydrogen – and it compromised containment….that’s really bad. FYI – those rectangular cubes you see on tv – arial shots of the site – are the Reactor buildings for each unit. The primary containment and reactor vessel and fuel, are inside. The longer and less tall building running alongside the units closer to the ocean are the turbine buildings where eacb plant’s main generators and supporting equipment are located. I’m trying to figure out if it was a Reactor Buidling that blew apart, hard to tell.
Can anyone see a scenario where the west coast of the US is affected by radiation. Not trying to stir the pot, just trying to be informed without relying on the media who will have me running for Montana tonight.
No reason to think US West coast will be any more affected than the US East coast. IF they meltdown thru the vessel and into containment – which may no longer be intact – then a fission product plume will be carried downwind. It will disperse and fan out into the atmosphere but at that point where it goes, and in what concentration, is dependant on the weather and wind…google chernobyl to see what happens but that scenario is not occuring. At least not yet. No reason to panic at all in the US or Canada.
Do you really think the central banker propaganda media would warn anyone of a cloud of radiation heading to US shores? These same bankers are Malthusian Fabian socialists who couldn’t give a fuck less about protecting human life. They pretend to, but at the same time they put fluoride in our water supplies to keep people dying off at the proper rate. They allow untested genetically modified foods in our diet and they do nothing to protect the public from aspartame, msg and fructose corn syrup.
Such a radiation catastrophe would get rid of quite a few West Coast homesteader types who question the government. They’d lose their property (an Agenda 21 goal) and their ability to be independent (another Agenda 21 goal).
I’d think that with this kind of track record, we would be told everything is perfectly okay, while we are getting blasted by rads. After the fact, it would then be blamed on faulty information and the media would continue reporting propaganda. No central banker would be imprisoned or executed.
So sad. My heart goes out to the japenese. This is just horrible.
I will be donating to the Red Cross today.
My prayers are with you.
Very sad indeed.
I finally signed up for Twitter, only because I wish to help The Fly thoroughly vanquish his opponents. I’m “TheFlysZombie” on Twitter. IBC News will be my sole source for all news.
I’m The Fly’s 5225th follower and IBC News’ 513th.
Nice work, Dr. Le Fly.
Subjective viewpoint on containment likely hood: http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/2011/03/nuclear-plant-issues-in-japan-are-least.html